“Go wake them,” J.T. rumbled. “Then catch up with us. Do it quick.”
“No doubt,” Rory muttered. “You want the lantern?”
J.T. shook his head. “Don’t need it. They will.”
“Right.” Rory clapped him on the shoulder, then turned and headed to wake Sif and Phelan. J.T. watched the lantern’s light disappear as Rory ducked around a corner. He sucked in a deep, quiet breath and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Be careful,” Constance’s voice whispered in his mind.
“Step lightly,” Eriu said from his elbow. His eyes blinked open and he looked down, meeting her large, luminescent eyes in the darkness. “They’re dangerous, though you might be able to get through to them. They’ll recognize your gift and theirs.”
J.T. sucked in a breath, fighting off the urge to shiver at her words. “Do you really think we’ve got a shot?”
“Uncle rode with them for a time. My mother managed to negotiate. If that was possible for them, it must be possible for you.” Her ghostly fingers brushed his. “Be careful. All of you, be careful.”
“Of course,” he murmured, giving her a weak smile in the darkness. She bit her lip and nodded once, then stepped back, fading away into nothing.
J.T. steeled himself and kept walking.
The chill bit into him as he stepped out into the night. A flash in the distance beyond the walls left him momentarily dazzled. He swore under his breath and started to run now that he was on open ground. His feet slid out from underneath him for a moment and he stumbled, picking himself up again and running full-tilt toward the watchtower.
He could see Leinth ahead of him, her dark cloak a smudge against the snow. She stood near one of the supports, staring at him in the darkness. Her whispered words came to him on the wind.
“It’s trouble.”
“I know,” he said aloud, wincing at the volume of his voice. It seemed too loud and too quiet all at once.
“Jay, is that you?” Thom called from the tower.
“It’s me,” J.T. called back. He glanced at Leinth as he scrambled to the ladder, started scaling it. “Are you coming?” he asked her.
“Not yet,” she said.
Then she turned and walked slowly, oh so slowly, toward the gates.
